"Indian" Bicycle with dual - and straight - top tubes?

[rjlombard]

I am looking into a bicycle/sidecar combo similar to one posted here some years ago: https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/year-and-info-on-indian-with-leaf-spring-and-sidecar.120626/. The (Sotheby's) auction information for the bike says it's ca. 1924. It also has a battery tube strapped to the bottom top tube that powers a headlamp.

The combo I am working with has the same color, the same caned PAL sidecar, and the same Pope front fork BUT it has two top tubes without the usual kink in the top one: they are both dead straight. I cannot find any evidence that Indian manufactured any such model - only ones with bent or arched ("truss") tubes.

Does anyone have any information on any Indian frames with two straight top tubes?

 

[fordmike65]

@New Mexico Brant
@cyclingday

 

[catfish]

hey wee made by Pope. They were put on a lot of different bikes that Pope made.

 

[cyclingday]

Post a link or a picture of the bike in question.
In 1924, Indian didn’t actually make the bicycles that they sold with their brand on them, so it’s possible that it’s an unfamiliar make of bike, and still could’ve been sold as an Indian bicycle.

 

[catfish]

 

[catfish]

 

[fordmike65]

From @rjlombard's description I believe his bike may be a parallel double bar frame.

Similar to this style frame?

 

[cyclingday]

That’s the way I’m interpreting his description.

 

[Archie Sturmer]

Refer to the Indian thread:

Hendee Mfg Co. / Indian Motocycle Co. Bicycles Information Thread | Antique Bicycles Pre-1933

Soliciting early Indian catalogs between 1902 -1912? I’m curious about the motor bike frame design when was it introduced? We know that in the year of 1908, Oscar Hedstrom presented celebrity racer Jake DeRosier with a unique Indian Motocycle. DeRosier went on to amass hundreds of victories as...

thecabe.com

Indian may have missed the bus by 1916, when the twin truss tube was less popular, and the double drop bar frame more popular?

 

[rjlombard]

Appreciate all of the input: you all are super helpful!

So - the Pope Fork is as @catfish shows. From what I can see, those came in around '10.

The @fordmike65 Sterling frame is the geometry in question, but the badge is as shown in this thread: https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/indian-badge.142485/. According to the (really long) thread from @Archie Sturmer, this went out in '16.

It's the fork/mark of the red bike (the front fender is less sculpted (flat, no flare, no sides), also has a mud flap, and the stay for the fender attaches at the hub, not the joint in the fork?). The bike features a New Departure rear brake as well.

@cyclingday - I think that you have the right idea: it's someone else's frame with an Indian badge on it and a Pope suspension fork. What's strange is the auction reference to '24: the badge and fork would seem to indicate an older object, and the Sterling geometry seems to date to the turn of the Century.

(I am not at liberty to post images of the bike - it's not mine, nor can I find any publicly available images. Sotheby's makes searching lots older than 10 years pretty hard.)